A ‘lechon’ pizza…. because pork fat rules!

If you’re foreign to the country and you don’t know how Pinoys have reinvented the classic Italian pizza, a visit to popular fastfood chain Greenwich is in order. Greenwich has pretty much captured the Pinoy tastebuds when it comes to interpreting Italian classics this side of Venezia .. those snooty Italians may cringe and cower, but this is the Philippines – home of the garlic rice, ‘dirty ice cream,’ bananacue, grilled chicken *ass, and that sweet-tasting Jollibee spaghetti.. hetcetera hetceteroo.

We got an invite to have a preview of Greenwich’s line-up for Christmas aptly titled “Deliciously Merry Feast.” The star of the show was the Lechon Pizza which blogger Ruy positively wrote about and whetted our appetites all the more. A drive to the busy finance district of Ayala Avenue was in order. Turns out the crowd that afternoon was elbow-to-elbow and it was hard for this latecomer to find a table actually….

Putting ‘lechon’ (native roast pork) on pizza is novel indeed, even though it’s not lechon per se but browned bits of lechon kawali. Topping the specialty are ground chicharon (pork skin), lechon sauce, cheese, bell peppers and some garlic-encrusted pizza dough. We all agreed it was yummy, especially when fresh out of the oven. Too bad I wasn’t able to taste the Greenwich ‘sisig’ pizza when it first came out and I can just predict future variations such as the menudo pizza or the adobo pizza (Pinoy na Pinoy). One thing I can’t imagine is the paksiw pizza (nyek) .. but expect the creative people at the Greenwich kitchen to do their own-take on time-tested Filipino dishes.

I was never a fan of meatballs on spaghetti but this turned out to be good, a very filling meal in itself. The tomato sauce was bordering on sweet.. which is just right for our tastebuds. 😛 Wasn’t able to take a picture of their other new offering , the beefy cannelloni , which is your ground meat wrapped in some crepe-like pasta.

The desserts were nothing to rave about though. The crust of this cinnamon apple dapple a la mode was too chewy (makunat). I would have preferred good ol’ apple pie or the traditional pie crust. My eatmates in the table all agreed that the holiday drink, Chocsicle Cream Frost, was too sweet!

Good thing there was the sight of a white cup to complete my late morning. Yes, Greenwich (at least in Ayala) now serves brewed coffee!

They will also come up with Pinoy breakfast sets such as Vigan longaniza and tapa. Their version of the pizza pan de sal is also being awaited.

So after joining a fun game, winning a DVD and getting some freebies (pizza more pizza), I get to meet an avid food blogger like Arpee, an IT lad working at Lawson who also writes about interesting food places in Manila. Ang saya! 😛